It's Monday What are you reading? (7)

Monday's What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey!

First of all, I must apologize for the slow blogging lately. I've been pretty busy with coursework, work and other things. So I haven't had much time for reading or blogging. 

I also still need to write up my Plague review, among other things. So yeah, sorry about that.

Read last week:

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Reading now:

Ravenwild by Peter J. Plasse

Up next: 

Looking for Alaska  by John Green

The Dark Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

On my wishlist (3)

On my wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City!

Books on my wishlist today:

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Battle Royale  by Koushun Takami 

The Dark Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Follow Friday/ Book Blogger Hop (7)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee!

This week's question is:

Do you judge book's by their cover?

Yep! I'm the number one criminal of that offence. The 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' is a good saying metaphorically, but not so much when it applies to books in my opinion. These days, a book cover is what sells the book to you when you're in a book shop. There are whole teams of people to work on book covers. That's why I think there's no excuse for a bad cover, or one that either doesn't match the story or live up to it.

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy for Books!

....and today's question isn't up yet. Not to fear, it'll be up soon.

Teaser Tuesday (3)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should be Reading!

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

' He left the shotguns. They were big and clumsy and he'd never fired one before.'

Short and sweet!

Top Ten Tuesday (3)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This weeks Top Ten is Top Ten Covers I'd redesign. 

I have to say that this Top Ten is the Top Ten for me! I am constantly guilty of judging a book by it's cover. 

1. The Gone Series (US covers)

Okay, I know that lots of people are really not going to agree with this as I just read an article where people were saying how much they liked them. But I think these covers do nothing for the brilliant story that it holds. I would never pick up a book with a cover like this if I was in a shop. I think it's mainly because I have a strong dislike in book covers with models on the front. I also think that the composition is terrible.

People seem to think that the UK covers are dull. But I LOVE them, they are some of my favorite covers around. I think they are simple but effective. They also have a sense of drama and mystery that totally represents the pure awesome of the book. I would be interested in it if I saw it in a shop.

But hey, that's just me. 

2. The Replacement 

Again, this is just me getting angry at the vocal point of the cover being the model. I feel like they've coped out on this one by just sticking a good looking guy on the front. And there's really nothing else that's very interesting about the cover either. I also love the US cover a lot, I think it's really interesting.

3. The Hunger Games 

This is just The Hunger Games first book UK version. I don't mind the other two books and I think the general design is quite exciting. But it's just the illustrations of Katniss and Peeta. As nice as they are,

 are they supposed to look 11 years old?

Also, when the Hunger Games first came out. The Peeta version seemed to be the only ones on the bookshelves in the shops, giving me the false impression that that was Katniss despite the blonde hair. 

I love the US versions of the Hunger Games covers though, I'm considering getting them.

4. Unwind

I remember thinking that this cover was quite cool and clever when I saw it on the internet. But in person I think it looks very tacky. I understand the concept that they are trying to get through here.....I just don't think it was pulled off very well.

You can't tell from this picture, but the font used in the bottom left corner and also on the back is a font that I swear used to be used in children's textbooks while I was at Primary School.

5. The Enemy

Okay, I admit; this cover does sort of suit the book. But I do think that it is a little over the top and does make the book look kind of cheap.

6. Inside Out (US version)

This is quite a nice cover, but I just don't think it suits the book whatsoever. I understand the concept they are trying to bring across again, but I just don't think it's been pulled off very well. 

I think one main reason I don't like this is because I LOVE the UK cover. It was the cover alone that made me pick it up in the shop and read it. 

7. Wake

Admittedly, I haven't read this yet. But this cover......really?

8. The Uglies (US covers)

Faces. Models. It's too much. I think the first one is kind of okay (apart from the fact that I think she looks more gorgeous than the girl in the Pretties cover which can't be right). I also particularly hate the composition of the Pretties cover. I'm not a huge fan of the UK covers either, but at least there are no models or faces.

9. Across the Universe

Okay, I do think that this cover is very pretty, and I love the space part. But I just feel like the two people's almost kissing faces give it such a romance-y feel that does not represent the book at all in my opinion. 

10. Numbers

I just think they did a bad job of trying to fit numbers into the word Numbers.

It's Monday What are you Reading? (6)

Monday What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey!

Read Last Week: 

The Replacement  by Brenna Yovanoff

Plague by Michael Grant (review coming up)

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Currently Reading: 

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Up Next:

Matched by Ally Condie

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Review: Cryer's Cross

Title: Cryer's Cross
Author: Lisa McMann
Published: 2011
Pages: 240
My Rating: 4/5

The small town of Cryer's Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing - someone close to Kendall’s heart - the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school - messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there - Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross - and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to 

keep their secret's buried.

I haven't read Lisa McMann's Wake series mainly because I'd heard so many mixed things about it, and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. The thing that drew me into reading this book was mainly the mention of the main character having OCD. I've never read a book that has a character with OCD in, and I was highly looking forward to reading this. Not just because of that, but also for the mystery story as that interested me.

Cryer's Cross was a very atmospheric and chilling story. I wouldn't go quite as far as to call it a Horror, as I've seen some call it. But it was definitely very creepy at times, especially at the end. The suspense throughout the book kept me reading on and on, and I almost finished it in one sitting (which I do very rarely). This being said, it was a very short book, being only just over 200 pages. But it was the perfect length for the story!

I was very skeptical when I first got this book about how McMann was going to treat the OCD of the main character, Kendall. I've had OCD for as long as I can remember and have seen way too many stereotypical versions of the disorder in fiction represented as someone being overly neat or clean with no real substance. McMann however, was SENSATIONAL (yes, I capitalized that) at getting into the head of someone with OCD. Some of the descriptions and phrasings were so accurate in describing the rituals in Kendall's mind; I couldn't have put them better myself. She really did her homework, and it helped me relate to the main character so much.

Overall, I really enjoyed this little story. The writing was snappy and to-the-point, which helped along the story a great deal. The suspense was enchanting and I was rocking on the edge of my seat and the creepy ending.